Relativity User Group on Case Dynamics

Tonight I attended a Relativity User Group on Case Dynamics (formerly known as Fact Manager) at the offices of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York City. Case Dynamics is a free application that is designed to be a substitute for case management software such as CaseMap. Case Dynamics can serve this purpose if you can convince your attorneys to use it. My own experience has been that absent a clear directive from a client, or partner enthusiastic about case management programs, lawyers are likely to track key witnesses, facts, and issues in an ad hoc manner in multiple Word documents.

Relativity's presentation emphasized that Case Dynamics may be most useful in identifying key documents and developing a theory of a case before a complaint is filed, or preparing for a deposition. There are different tabs for Facts; Issues; People; Organizations; Interview Questions; and Outlines.

Inline coding can be performed to update facts, issues and other fields. Entering an @ symbol before a name will generate a list of key people and organizations to select from, helping keep the names standardized.

The Timeline Builder features pop out boxes for multiple entries from the same date, and can be toggled from horizontal to vertical mode. The timeline can link to specific facts which in turn can take you to specific documents. I thought it was too bad Relativity did not include the ability to add in small thumbnail images of key documents directly on the timeline.

A master report can be exported to a zip file that will include an html file with all of the key issues, etc., and also hot documents, and outlines.

Relativity confirmed at the user group session that the ability to export data to Case Map has been retained.